Aerial shell



Jan. 23, 1923. 1,442,929.

(5. E. ELIA- AERIAL SHELL.

FILED APR.25, 1917. 2 SlihETS-SHEEI 1.

V E] wueM/Coz SW 2 $5 attozmeo s 2 SHETS-SHEE1 2.

G. E. ELIA.

AERIAL SHELL.

FILED APR.25,1917.

Jan, 23, 1923.

I II 1 m 1 Patented Jan. 23, 1923.

UNITED STATES GIOVANNI EMANUELE ELIA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AERIAL SHELL.

Application filed April 25, 1917. Serial No. 164,320.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GIOVANNI EMANUELE ELIA, a subject of the King ofItaly, residing at New York city, in the county of New York, State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AerialShells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it 'appertains to make and use the same.- 4

This invention relates to aerial shells and is directed to the provisionof an improved form of automatic firing mechanism for firing the shellin the air. The invention is of special utility in aerial shells of thetype commonly known as star shells employed for illuminating extendedareas at night, more particularly to facilitate artillery and aeroplaneoperations against a hostile force. It will be understood, however, thatthe invention is not limited to such star shells, but, on the. contrary,may be employed in shells, bombs and illnminants of various types whichare to be exploded or ignited in the air.

Star shells are commonly employed in warfare for illuminating anextended area of the battlefield. For this purpose, they are launched inany suitable manner from guns or aeroplanes and are fired in the air,where upon they burn with a strong illuminating power. Such a shellshould be provided with means for sustaining it in'the air for aconsiderable period of time, a period at least as long as the illuminantwill last.

The present invention involves the provision of a star shell adapted tobe launched from an aeroplane and provided with a para-chute forsupporting the shell in the air so that the shell will descendrelatively slowly after the parachute has opened out,

the parachute being'of such size as to sustain the shell between therequired limits of height during the entire period required for theconsumption of the illuminant. For the protection of the parachute, theshell itself should be suspended at a suflicient distance below theparachute to guard against setting fire 'to it when the-explosive orilluminant of the shell is burned; also, it. may be desirable to havethe shell suspended at a great distance below the parachute when theshell is fired, so that, though the shell be launched from a greatheight to lessen the danger from anti-aircraft guns, the shell will befired and will burn at the elevation at which its illuminating powerwill be most effective. In accordance with the invention, the firingmechanism of the shell is arranged to be actuated automatically when theshell has dropped a predetermined distance below the parachute and thecable or rope whereby the shell is suspended from the parachute isemployed for effecting the actuation of the firing mechanism. A suitablelength of rope is provided between the shell and the parachute and whenthis slack has been taken up by the downward movement of the shellrelatively to the parachute, the firing mechanism of the shell isautomatically actuated. For the purpose of securing a high factor ofsafety in the handling of the shells prior to launching and a highdegree of reliability in the operation of the firing mechanism, thismechanism is preferably of a type which in-. cludes two coactingthreaded members, one of which is rotated by the downward movement ofthe shell relatively to the parachute through the flexible connectionbetween them Thus, the cable connecting the parachute and the shell maybe carried several times around a reel within the shell casing so thatafter the parachute opens out and the shell continues to drop, the reelis rotated by the cable being drawn from it. This rotational movement ofthe reel may be arranged through coacting threads to effectaxialmovement of a shaft to store energy in a spring operating on thefiring mechanism ofthe shell andthen release that mechanism.

In this way, a strong movement of the firing pin may be obtained whichinsures reliability of operation of the firing mechanism and at the sametime the -mechanism ma be so constructed. as to guard very effectuallyagainst an accident resultingfrom' premature' explosion of the shell orignition of the illuminant. Also, the mechanism'ma be readily adjustedfor the operation 0 the firing mechanism when the shell has descendedany desired distance from the supporting parachute. i

The features of the invention will be better understood by reference tothe following description taken -in connection with the accomanyingdrawings which illustrate embodlments of the invention at presentpreferred. In these drawings, Fig. 1 is a view I blow.

in-elevation showing the parachute and the shell suspended therefrom;Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation showing these parts enclosed within acasing in the body of an aeroplane so that the shell may be readilydropped from the plane; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through theshell; and Fig. 4; is a view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating amodified construction.

Referring to these drawings, an aerial supporting means in the form of aparachute is shown at 5 and the shell is shown at 6 suspended from theparachute by means of a flexible cable or rope 7. The inflammable orexplosive element within the shell may be of any suitable character andits construction and arrangement within the casing of the shell may bevaried as desired. In a star shell, the inflammable material is of sucha character and quantity that it will burn fora considerable .period oftime and will have a strong illuminating power throughout that time.Furthermore, the size of the parachute is so chosen that it will supportthe shell at the requisite height throughout the period required for theconsumption of the illuminating material. In the drawings. theinflammable material furnishing the illumination is indicateddiagrammatically at 8 and the casing of the shell may be shaped to forma reflector 9 for throwing the light rays downward in a cone.

. Within the casing of the shell is a tubular frame 10 having a primer11 mounted therein in' any suitable manner Within the frame 10 is acylinder 12 carrying a firing pin 13 projecting downwardly so as toengage the primer 11. The upper end of the tubular frame 10 is closed bya plug 14 and a coiled spring 15 lies between the plug 14 and thecylinder 12. When thisspring is compressed and the plug 12 is released,the plug is moved downwardly by the spring with considerable. force sothat the firing pin 13 engages the primer 11 with a sharp The cylinder12 is lifted within the frame 10, compressin the spring 15 by a shaft 16which is provided with a circumferential groove near its lower end.Within the cylin= der 12 are a plurality of radial openings, each ofwhich receives a locking or retaining piece 17. Each of these ieces isbevelled off at each of its ends. n the inner wall of the tubular frame10 is a circumferential groove as shown at 18 in Fig. 3; 1

The shaft 16 is moved vertically by means of threads thereon coactingwith'threads on the interior of an opening through a. rotating partwhich includes a disk 19 and a tube 20. This tube 20 has a reel 21secured to it and it is adapted to rotate upon bearing surfaces formedon the frame 10 'andthe interior of the casing 6. The upper end of thecasing 6 is closed by a disk 22 and on 23, so as to prevent rotationalmovement of the shaft 16 as the disk 19, tube 20, and reel 21 arerotated. .1

The flexible cable 7 which connects the parachute 5 to the shellis woundaround the reel 21 to facilitate adjusting the distance. which the shellwill drop relatively to the parachute before the firing mechanism isactuated. The cable 7 may be wound several times around the exterior ofthe casing 6 of the shell, as is indicated in Fig. 3. as in this way thedesired adjustment may be made by merely changing the number ofconvolutions of the cable 7 which are wound upon the casing. When thisexpedient is adopted for adjustingthe operation of the firing mechanism,a clamp 24 is preferably provided for gripping one end of the portion ofthe cable wound on the casing of the shell and a pin 25 is provided atthe opposite end of this portion arranged to engage with the reel 21 soas to hold the reel against rotation. The extreme end of the cable 7 issecured to the reel 21 and the portion of the cable adjacent to this endis wound around the reel 21 such a number of times as will cause therotation of the reel required for operating the firing mechanism. Fromthe reel the cable is carried through an opening in the side of thecasing 6 and then upward through a central opening in a ring 26 at theapex of the casin The cable then passes to the pin 25 which may be inthe form of a cotter pin adapted to extend casing 6 and on the reel 21.This pin 25 is of such shape and such material that it will be easilypulled out of the openings in the casing and reel when the cable 7exerts a pull upon it. Beyond the pin 25 the cable 7 is wound such anumber of' times as may be desired upon the casing Got the shell andadjacent to the last convolution of this winding the cable is placedbetween the jaws of the spring clamp 24 mounted on the casing of theshell. The purpose of this clamp is merely to prevent accidental.unwinding of these convolutions of the cable and it is so constructedthat it will release the cable easily when subjected to any leased "bythe pilot or observer of the aerothrough openings in a projection on theplane as bvdepressing a pedal. .The shell 15 disposed'verti'cally withinthe compartment 27 and the parachute is laid over the upper end of theshell in such a way as will be best calculated to insure the opening ofthe parachute. When the doors 28 are released, the shell 6 with theparachute connected thereto drops vertically from the compartment andthe air catching in the parachute causes it to open to the positionshown in Fig. 1. This practically arrests the downward movement of theparachute but the downward movement of the shell continues. The firsteffect of this downward movement of the shell relatively to theparachute is to cause the cable 7 to be drawn out of the jaws of theclamp 24 and thereafter the convolutions' of the cable wound upon thecasing 6 are paid out until finally 21 so that it may be rotated.Further downward movement of the shell relatively to the parachutecauses the cable 7 to be drawn off from the reel 21 through the ring 26,thus turning the reel 21, the tube 20 to which the reel is afiixed, andthe disk 19 in the upper end of the tube 20. The turning of the disk 19on the shaft 16 which is held against rotation by the splined connectionto the disk 22 on the casing 6 causes the shaft 16 to be raisedvertically carrying the cylinder-12 with it and compressing the spring15. This continues as the shell descends until the pieces 17 are carriedup to the circumferential oove 18 in the frame 10, whereupon the pieces17 are moved outwardly by reason of the inclined surfaces upon the innerends of the pieces and the inclined walls of the circumferential groovein shaft. 16 with which those ends of the pieces coact. This leadseventually to the release of the cylinder 12 from the shaft 16 and assoon as this release occurs the spring 15 drives the cylinder 12downwardly with considerable force, causing the firing pin 13 to engagethe primer with a hammerlike blow and by means of a train of- ,powder 30the explosive or inflammable material 8 of the shell is ignited In Fig.4 a: modified construction of the firing mechanism is illustrated,differing fromthat illustrated in Fig. 3 with respect to the means foreffecting an adjustment of the distance throu h which the shell willdrop relatively to t e parachute before the firin mechanism is operated.In Fig. 4, the rame 10, primer 11, cylinder 12, firing pin 13, spring.15, locking pieces 17, groove 18 and reel 21 are the same orsubstantially the same as the correspondingly numbered elements in theFig. 3 construction. The upper portion of the tubular frame 10 is formedto coact with the upper end of spring 15 and also to form a bearing fora hollow shaft 31 which is adapted to slide vertically within the frame10. This hollow shaft has a circumferential groove near its lower endcoacting with the inner ends of the pieces 17 in the manner described inconnection with Fig. 3. The upper end of the hollow shaft 31 is enlargedas shown at 32 to form a circumferential flange which rests upon ashoulder on the interior of the frame 10. The central opening inthe'hollow shaft 31 is threaded and receives the end of a threaded rod33 which extends upwardly from the hollow shaft and is enlarged at itsupper end to form ahead 34. The tubular member 20 to which the reel 21is secured is extended upwardly and at its upper end is provided with aninteriorly threaded opening, the threads of which coact with threads onthe exterior of a tubular shaft 35, the lower end of which normallyrests upon the circumferential flange 32 of the hollow shaft 31. Thislower end of the hollow shaft 35 is contracted so as to form an internalshoulder 36, but thethreaded rod 33 extending through this contractedlower end of the hollow shaft 35 does'not make contact therewith. Thehollow shaft 35 is provided with an axial groove as is indicated in Fig.4 to receive "a pin 37 on the casing of the shell so as to prevent thehollow shaft 35 from turning as the tube 20 is turned but permit thatshaft to be'moved vertically. The head 34: of the threaded rod 33 may beprovided with grooves on opposite sides thereof in which leaf springs 38are mounted, the function of these springs being to press outwardlyagainst the interior wall of the hollow shaft 35 so as to preventaccidental rotational movement of the rod 33. The cable 7 from thearachute is connected to a pin 25 for locking the reel 21 againstrotation and then passes through the ring 26 at the upper end of thecasing of the shell and then downward through an opening in the easingof'the shell, the end of the cable being wound a plurality of-timesaround the reel 21 and then secured to the reel.

Whenthe shell constructed as above described in connection with Fig. 4is launched from an aeroplane and-the parachute opens out, the upperlength of the cable 7 is drawn taut, thus withdrawing the pin 25 fromits locking position in the opening in reel 21.

Thereafter, further descent of the shell causes the cable 7 to be drawnoff from the reel 21 to rotate the reel. The tube 20 turns with the reel21 and the coacting threads on this tube and the hollow shaft 35,together with the splined connection for preventing rotational movementof the hollow shaft 35,

result in axial upward movement of shaft 35. This movement continuesuntil the shoulder 36 near the lower end of the hollow shaft 35 engagesthe lower end of the head 34 of the threaded rod 33, whereupon the rodis lifted with the shaft 35. When so lifted, the rod 33 carries with itthe hollow shaft 31 and the latter carries with it the cylinder 12, thuscompressing the spring 15. This movement continues until the pieces 17rise to the level of the circumferential groove 18, whereupon thecylinder 12 is released and is actuated by spring 15 to fire the shellin the manner heretofore described. It will be noted that by applying ascrew-driver to the slot in the end of the head 34 of rod 33 and turningthat rod, an adjustment can be' effected of the distance which the shellmust drop before the firin mechanism is actuated to fire the shell. goturning the rod 33 regulates the distance between the shoulder 36 on thehollow shaft and the lower end.

of the head 34 of the rod 33, that is, the distance which the shaft 35musttravel upwardly before it begins to raise the rod 33, hollow shaft31 and cylinder 12. This mechanism therefore provides a meansforefl'ecting an adjustment of the distance which the shell must droprelatively to the parachute by means of the parts of the shell itselfrather than by varying the length of the ing as the illuminant, a cableby which the casing is suspended from the parachute, a firing mechanismfor igniting the combustible, and a reel on which a portion of the cableis wound and which is arranged to actuate the firing mechanism, thedownward movement of the casing and reel relatively to the parachutebeing arranged to cause rotation of the reel by the cable being drawnfrom it; substantially as described.

2. An aerial shell comprising a supporting parachute, a casingcontaining a combustible, a cable connecting the parachute and thecasing, and capable of being paid out to permit relative movement of theeasing away from the parachute, and mechanism within the casing operatedby said relative movement to ignite the combustible at a predeterminedtime.

3. An aerial shell comprising a supporting parachute, a casingcontaining an illuminant, a cable connecting the parachute and thecasing, a rotatable drum within the casing around which the cable iswound for a part of its length in such a manner that a relative movementof the casing away from the parachute results in the rotation of thedrum, and an ignition mechanism within the casing operated by therotation of the drum to ignite the illuminant at a predetermined time.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GIOVANNI EMANUELE ELIA.

